Maharashtra Mourns Ajit Pawar: Antim Yatra in Decorated Rath Today

The chariot is adorned with flowers, featuring Pawar's image and a board reading "Swargiya Ajitdada Pawar amar rahein" (Long live Ajit Dada Pawar).

The funeral procession for Maharashtra's longest-serving Deputy CM (non-consecutively) will start from the Vidya Pratishthan campus (Gadima) at 9 AM, pass through the city for people to pay their respects to Pawar, and culminate at the Vidya Pratishthan Ground for the funeral, scheduled to take place at 11 AM.

Hours ahead of the procession, crowds of party workers and supporters gathered outside Ahilyabai Holkar Hospital in Baramati, where Pawar's mortal remains were kept before being taken to his residence.

A teary-eyed party worker, Chandrashekar Patil, mourned Ajit Dada's death and reflected on the Deputy CM's hardworking routine.

"Who will we go to now?....the elder person of this family has left, who will guide us now? Everyone has been mourning his death since morning. It's extremely unfortunate....He used to wake up at 5 AM, listen to people's grievances and continue with his working schedule," Patil said while breaking into tears.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray and party leader Aaditya Thackeray also visited Ajit Pawar's Baramati residence on Wednesday to offer condolences to the grieving family following his demise.

Furthermore, the postmortem examinations of pilot Captain Sumit Kapoor, co-pilot Captain Shambhavi Pathak, and flight attendant Pinky Mali, who also died in the Baramati plane crash, have been completed, and their mortal remains were handed over to their families.

Their postmortems were conducted at the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Government Medical College in Baramati. Following the procedure, the bodies were released to their respective families.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Ajit 'Dada' Pawar died on Wednesday in a plane crash at Baramati airport, leaving behind a long career of ups and downs in politics.

Pawar was headed to Baramati to attend a public rally for the Zilla Parishad Elections.

Ajit Pawar was born on 22nd July 1959 in Deolali Pravara, Rahuri taluka, Ahmednagar district.

He was known among the people as "Ajit Dada" because of his tireless striving for the people of Maharashtra and his ability to stay connected to the people and the soil.

In addition to making significant contributions to government administration, Pawar oversaw the management of various cooperative organisations, including Milk Unions and Federations and sugar factories.

Ajit Dada's leadership journey began and continued across institutions such as milk unions, cooperative societies, sugar factories, and banks, and took a new direction in 1991 when he was elected to the Lok Sabha. He would later vacate the Baramati seat for his uncle Sharad Pawar. Since then, he has held many more positions, including MLA, Minister of State for various critical government departments, and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.

In November 2019, he engineered a split in the NCP, joined a government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, and became the Deputy Chief Minister. In February 2024, the Election Commission awarded the party name and symbol to the faction headed by Ajit Pawar.

Despite this, Ajit Pawar was known to be very close to his uncle, Sharad Pawar, under whose guidance he began his political career. In the recently held Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Elections, the two rival factions of the NCP formed an alliance and presented a united development agenda for Pune.

Ajit Pawar was famed for his straightforward approach and frankness. He is survived by his wife, Sunetra Pawar and two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar.

- ANI